how to play pocket kings

Texas Hold em Starting Hands » Pocket Kings

A king can do no wrong - unless it runs into an ace.

-Anonymous

How to play pocket kings is a key part of Texas hold'em strategy. Now, this is a little bit of an advanced strategy, so if you're new to Texas hold'em poker you should learn the basics of the great game first. But, for the purposes of this article, let's assume you've got some experience that you bring to the poker table.

So, now you've been learning how to look at whether or not the other players are raising pre-flop or if they've been waiting to see the board and make a hand before they dare take some chances on raising. You've been looat the flop, river, and turn and carefully trying to calculate pot odds and applying the 4/2 rule. You've been having some success, even.

But what do you do when you get a pair of pocket kings? Here, you need to know some deeper Texas hold'em strategy in order to know how to play pocket kings. It might seem simple on the surface, and in fact there is a kind of simple approach to take with this quite good deal.

But you have to think carefully and know precisely what you're doing because if you don't you will find yourself doing something terrible: playing on emotion, not on decision-making and strategic considerations.

You must not play pocket kings as if they're pocket aces. This is the classic error made with pocket kings when beginner or intermediate players get them. Kings are not top pair; they won't beat a pair of aces. Having said that, the odds are known to be 221:1 that someone else at your table will get a pocket pair of aces in the same game that you get those kings.

So, what does this mean for you and your Texas hold'em strategy? Well, be wary of the aces high possibility; otherwise, come out aggressive. Do not limp in with this pocket pair. You might think you can draw out those with weaker hands if you bluff, but this is not the time for bluffing. You have a powerful start to the game. The people you want to draw out and keep in are not those with the weaker hands; it's those with strong hands. These people are more likely to stay in the game through the flop, maybe all the way--and, they'll be raising, sweetening that pot for you.

Yes, be aggressive out of the gate...but, you still have to watch carefully. You can get beaten by a draw down straight or flush, a pair of aces, a full house...and so it goes.

You must watch the initial betting round and the flop extremely carefully. See if you can trip up--get a third king. If you trip up, you can smile (inside, of course; keep that poker face). But, if you see any possibility lurking in the community cards of the kinds of possibilities just mentioned (especially if an ace is turned up), start being far more cautious. Look at how other players bet from this time on. Even if you do trip up but you get to the river with two or three callers/raisers still in the game, you have to use 4/2, poker pot odds, and (if you've been there for a few hands already) the betting patterns that you've observed in those players remaining to determine whether or not you stay in or fold at this point.

Now, it's true that if you fold here, you probably lose a lot of money, because you've been calling if not raising to this point. But, it's worth it. If you don't see an ace on the flop, keep it up with the aggression unless somebody else at the table seems to be doing the same thing. Is he bluffing, or does he have aces to your kings? But once you've hit the turn, really look hard at the players still in and for any possibilities of draw down beating hands on the board. Welcome to some deeper Texas hold'em strategy.

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